When the Waters Fall

You are the anchor in my paper boat,

the firm branch on the crest of the gale;

my fears are clouds heavy with thunder,

and your hand is the sky that lets them rest.

When the sea shrinks and the wind screams its rage,

you are the silence that dwells in my chest;

my soul is a field ravaged by the storm,

and you are the seed that knows how to wait.

There is no tempest that does not tire of fighting,

nor darkness that would not yield to your light;

you are the path that opens in the clay,

the breath I hold in my cold hours.

Because companionship is the sun that rises

just when we believe the night will never end,

an embrace woven with threads of stars,

that sustains the world even when it falters.

GRACIELA NOEMI VILLAVERDE is a writer and poet from Concepción del Uruguay (Entre Rios) Argentina, based in Buenos Aires She graduated in letters and is the author of seven books of poetry, awarded several times worldwide. She works as the World Manager of Educational and Social Projects of the Hispanic World Union of Writers and is the UHE World Honorary President of the same institution’s Activa de la Sade, Argentine Society of Writers. She is the Commissioner of Honor in the executive cabinet in the Educational and Social Relations Division of the UNACCC South America – Argentina Chapter.